The ocean in June
inhaling and exhaling
but never speaking
Regarded as the father of contemporary haiku, Masaoka Shiki was a poet and literary critic during the Meiji period in Japan.
He advocated realistic observation by “sketching” (shasei) poems and going out into nature with notebooks, thus abandoning the traditional subjects of haiku of the time. His advice for an aspiring poet was, “Use both imaginary pictures and real ones, but prefer the real ones.”
Haiku by Masaoka Shiki
Picture by Mathyas Kurmann
This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.
You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.
Submission deadline: 23rd June 2021